International studio (20.1903)

"_FEMMES AU BAIN"
women and children, rendering in marvellous
fashion the subtle play of light upon the flesh of
buxom women. His single portraits and groups
of children are also remarkably charming and
typically French, graceful of line, and satisfying
in colour. Also, I have seen scattered about
in various galleries several small groups of people
^7? which have pleased me, notably,
for its extraordinary skill and truth to nature,
his Zaf H23 Afw/372 3%? /tz CaZfT*/;?, a most
difficult theme, which will repay close study
by students. Through all his works, however,
large and small, runs an unpleasant tone of
Prussian blue, and the handling especially of
the life-sized groups is coarse and repellent. For
Renoir's landscapes I must confess to little
appreciation. They seem vapid and thin, of a
uniform greasy, woolly texture, lacking structural
quality and recording nothing extraordinary in
effect.

Rare, indeed, the artist
who can distinguish him-
self in every branch of art:
lucky enough the man who
excels in any one, or even
of any subdivision of one.
A typical example of this
latter excellence lies in the
work of Alfred Sisley, who
was a landscapist pure and
simple, and who has left us
a legacy of some of the
most attractive
ever painted. He was also
in the vanguard of the
impressionist movement in
France. A luminarist, ^<27*
<?.x<r^//<;73<^, who developed as
such with extraordinary
rapidity after the return of
Monet and Pissarro from
London.
Though born in Paris
(Oct. 1859) Sisley was the
son ot an Englishman, and
paid frequent visits to
England, working for a
considerable time in the
neighbourhood of Hampton
Court and on the Thames
generally.
BY D'ESFAGNAT Formerly a painter of
the conventional Salon
picture in russets and
gray ri /a Courbet, he succeeded in evolving
a style peculiarly his own, abundantly rich in
colour and agreeable in line, noting especially
the violet tints of a sunlit landscape. In
former days, canvases as big as the side of
a house alone seemed to satisfy his soul's
desire. He specialised his efforts almost solely
to transcripts from the poplar-bordered river side ;
the Za3*73^ particularly, and from here comes his
He was less successful, particularly
in draughtsmanship, when he attempted to achieve
with Moret church what Monet did with Rouen
cathedral. The discernment of the following
appreciative lines by Henri Fouquier renders un-
necessary any apology for their quotation here :—
" Les toiles de Sisley representant presque toutes des
paysages de riviere, avec des eaux et des ciels a cote des
fabriques, ce qui permetd'apprecierlafagon dont l'artiste
profondement original traite des aspects de la nature
tres divers et l'impression de la lumiere dans l'espace et
sur les corps Huides ou liquides. L'etude de cette variete

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